River Forest’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 4 old photos of River Forest. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The Native American history of the area is closely tied to the Des Plaines River and includes Menominee and Chippewa settlements near what is now the Desplaines Avenue and Roosevelt Road forest preserves of Cook County. The Menominees would eventually be driven out by the Potowatomi Nation in 1810. The Potawatomi were in turn pushed west of the Mississippi by the Treaty of Chicago of 1833.
1831 saw the establishment of a steam sawmill on the east bank of the Des Plaines River. In 1842, the first planked road in what is now Lake Street was created. The community was known as Noyesville at the time. In 1848 the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad completed construction of tracks westward from Chicago, and train service commenced in January 1849.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart River Forest’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how River Forest’s history is told.
3 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewSt. Luke's Church, River Forest, …, 1900: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from River Forest
See all 13 →
River Forest, decade by decade
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as St. Luke's Church, River Forest, Illinois, early 20th century (NBY 943) (1900) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Historic places
National Register · via Wikidata
From Wikimedia Commons (4) and the National Register (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.